Phoenix responds

"At last, a suitable vessel."

"What?" Ashley thought at Jean.

"I didn't say anything."

"Shh. She doesn't know I'm here. Concentrate, and find me."

Ashley closed her eyes, and tried to figure out where this second voice was coming from. She followed the connection into Jean's mind, where she found it forked. One path led to Jean, but the other led to... something else.

"Well done. Your power, while not proper telepathy, gives you enough psychic control to find me."

"What are you?" she asked, making sure that her thoughts went directly to this thing, and not to Jean.

"I am the Phoenix. I have lived inside of Jean since her birth. I was a part of her, once, but an evil man feared the power that we had united, and shut me away, so that Jean could only use one half of her power. I was unable to speak to Jean, or anyone, until you."

"What makes me special?"

"Your power creates psychic connections automatically, one of these probes found me, and made a connection. We can talk, and, if you like, I can use this connection to join with you."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I could enter you, and in doing so, grant you access to my powers. Telepathy, and telekinesis on par with my sister."

It sounds too good to be true. And it probably was. Maybe she should ask Jean?

"She does not know that I exist, the villain who locked me up here years ago erased her memory of me."